Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly appears set for a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. The only question appears to be if he’ll have to walk down the street for it.
Rielly took offense to an empty net goal scored by Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Grieg. Instead of gently sliding the puck into the vacated net, Grieg opted to wind up for a slap shot to secure the win.
The Leafs defenseman, terribly offended by this, delivered a cross-check to Grieg’s face. Referees Eric Furlatt and Beau Halkidis issued Rielly a mjor penalty for cross checking, along with a game misconduct.
Rule 59 covers cross-checking:
Cross-checking – The action of using the shaft of the stick between the two hands to forcefully check an opponent.
A minor [or major] penalty, at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who “cross checks” an opponent. When a major penalty is assessed for cross-checking, an automatic game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on the offending player.
The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by cross-checking.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the Maple Leafs sticking up for each other and toughening up. To quote singer Jason Isbell, this ain’t it, baby.
Getting your feelings hut – not because he scored a goal, but because of the way he scored a goal – is one thing. Fine, play him tough. Hit him hard. Stay on him next game. Losing your mind and cross-checking him in the face is a whole different level.
Rielly deserves to serve some serious time for this one. John Shannon reported that the debate in the NHL offices is whether Rielly’s hearing should be in person.
That shouldn’t be a debate. Rielly deserves at least five.
The NHL has suspended players for post-goal hits before, most notably issuing a 21-game suspension to Washington Capitals forward Dale Hunter for a hit on Pierre Turgeon of the New York Islanders.
This season, Detroit’s David Perron picked up a six-game suspension for crosscheck to the head of Artem Zub. This situation is comparable in many aspects, and should end up in the same range of 5-7 games. Though it’s reasonable to argue – as we did on the latest #RefsPodcast – that an intent to injure after the whistle already deserves stricter penalties.
Morgan Rielly doesn’t get to blame the victim here. He doesn’t get to chalk this up to ‘the code’ or some sense of nobility. He doesn’t get to channel his inner Taylor Swift and tell Grieg “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Rielly needs to own this. He needs to be held accountable.
No amount of ‘feeling disrespected’ by an empty net goal can justify crosschecking an opponent in the face. Let’s hope that Player Safety agrees, and that they make it very clear.
